Drum beater head



Oct. 6, 1964 J. ZARCONE ETAL 3,151,513

DRUM BEATER HEAD Filed June 18, 1962 INVENTORS RUDOLPH R. KLE\NER JEROME ZARGONE United States Patent 3,151,518 DRUM HEATER HEAD Jerome Zarcone, New Brunswick, NJ. (184 Whitehead Ave., South River, Ni), and Rudolph R. Kleiner, 14 Joyce Kilrner Ave., New Brunswick, NJ.

Filed June 18, 1962, Ser. No. 203,032

2 Claims. (Cl. 84-422) of impact despite the pivotal or swinging movement of the beater head. Since some movement of the beater head across the drum head is to be expected, abrasion of the drum head results and the beater head will eventually wear and become flat at the point of impact. It is the purpose of the present invention to eliminate these harmful effects.

Accordingly, the present invention provides for mounting a beater head upon an arm or shaft in a manner permitting the head to revolve incrementally upon impact with the drum head. In one of the embodiments of the invention, the beater head is resiliently mounted axially upon a spindle which extends generally perpendicular to the axis of the beater shaft. The spindle is joined to the shaft by an oifset, such that the central portions of the impact surface of the beater head will be aligned with'the axis of the shaft. The heater head may rotate incrementally relative to the spindle so that tangential movement between the drum head and the impact surface of the beater head when the drum head is struck, will rotate the beater head. Abrasion of the drum head is thereby minimized and the beater head is prevented from becoming flat by constantly presenting a new portion of the impact surface during successive blows.

In a second embodiment, the beater head is separated intotwo revolvable halves which are mounted upon a common spindle. The spindle is attached perpendicularly and centrally to the beater shaft between the halves which transmit the force of the blow when the drum head is struck, directly to the heater shaft without twisting.

In the following description reference is made, by way of non-limiting examples, to forms of construction of the invention illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the attachment, in a first embodiment, of a beater head to a mounting arm according to the principles of the invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along the line XX of the beater head of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 illustrates a modified embodiment of the beater head, partly in cross section, wherein the beater head comprises two separate revolvable parts mounted on the beater shaft;

FIG. 4 is an end view of the beater head of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 illustrates the spindle upon which the two sep arate revolvable parts of the beater head of FIG. 3 is mounted; and

FIG. 6 illustrates the manner in which rotation of the washers is prevented on the spindle of FIG. 5.

Referring now to the drawing and initially to FIGS. 1 and 2 thereof, a beater shaft 10 mounting a beater head 11 is shown attached to a pedal operated actuating device (illustrated in phantom) which forms no part of the present invention. It will be sufiicient to state that the pedal actuator includes a pedal A, which when depressed, causes arm B to rotate downwardly, thereby swinging the shaft 10 in a forward or clockwise direction. At the forward end of its travel, the head 11 may strike a drum head (not shown) positioned adjacent thereto.

The shaft 10 includes an offset parallel portion 12 and an angular connecting portion 13 integral therewith. At right angles to the axis of the beater shaft 10, is a spindle 14 which receives the beater head 11. The latter may be of conventional, semi-resilient fibrous construction, the periphery thereof identified by the reference numeral 17 forming a striking surface for impact against a drum head. The head 11 defines an axial bore 18 for receiving the spindle 14. A clearance is provided between the internal diameter of the bore and the outside diameter of the spindle 14 to permit the head 11 to revolve about the spindle 14. A back-up washer 19 is mounted to the shaft 14 immediately adjacent to the beater shaft section 12 and is secured against axial movement on one side by a stop member 20. After assembly of the head 11 upon the spindle 14, a second washer 21 maybe assembled over the outer or free end of the spindle 14 against a fiat axial end 22 of the head 11 which forms part of a recess 23 therein. The spindle 14 has a fiat under-surface 24 which mates with a correspondingly shaped opening in the washer 21 to prevent rotation of the washer with respect to the spindle. A helical spring 25 encircles the spindle 14, the smaller outer end thereof being snapped into an annular groove 26 in the spindle, thereby bringing the larger end of the spring 25 to bear against the washer 21. The head 11 is thus mounted resiliently yet firmly in an axial direction of the spindle 14 and is substantially free to rotate upon the spindle. Consequently, when the beater head strikes a drum head in a manner providing relative tangential movement between the impact surface 17 and the drum head, a turning moment will result tending to produce incremental rotation of the beater head. Since some such relative tangential movement is normd, in the sense that it cannot generally be prevented, the beater head will gradually tuzrn about the axis of spindle 14 and will not wear or become flattened in one area. Moreover, the abrasive action of the beater head against the drum head surface willbe greatly minimized.

The spring-mounting of the beater head upon the spin dle in the manner described greatly enhances the incremental rotation of the beater head. Since the end washers 19 and 21 are fixed with respect to the spindle, during rotation the beater head will slip against the inner surfaces of each against a resilient frictional pressure produced by the spring 25. The heater head is thus secured,

firmly with respect to the beater shaft such that undesirable vibration of the head with respect to the shaft may not occur upon impact. At the same time, the resilient action tends somewhat to inhibit rotation of the beater head, in the manner of a slip clutch, to assure only incremental rotation thereof upon abrasive or substantial tangential frictional contact between the beater head and the drum head.

In a second particular embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 3-5, spindle 32 is attached centrally to a heater shaft 31 between the separate parts 30a, 3% of the beater head 3t). The spindle 32 has been shown separately in FIG. 5 for purposes of better illustrating its construction. Initially, in the assembly of the beater head to the spindle 32,,the end of the shaft 31 will first be received over the spindle and when centrally positioned, will be aiiixed securely thereto. As shown, the central portion of the spindle includes splines 33 which mate with corresponding internal splines in the shaft 31 to assure the rigid attachment of the spindle to the beater shaft. After assembly of the shaft and spindle, washers 36, 37 will be staked to the spindle 32 at opposite sides of the beater 3,151,?) P) 2i) shaft. The respective parts 3&1, 39b of the beater head may then be assembled upon the spindle. Toward the outer ends of the spindle, the lower surface at 32a, 32b thereof is made flat to receive washers 38, 39 which have correspondingly shaped (see FIG. 6) apertures therein which prevent their rotation upon the spindle. Helical springs 44), 41 are disposed respectively about the outer end of the spindle against the Washers 3 39 and are secured axially in position by having the ends of the spring snap in grooves 43, 44 formed in the outermost portions of the spindle. The beater head 36 comprising portions 30a, 31% is thus resiliently retained in an axial direction upon the spindle 32 and is permitted freedom to turn upon the spindle. The embodiment of FIGS. 3-6 possesses the advantage that impact forces which are transmitted to the shaft 31 from the beater head by striking a drum head surface, are directly transmitted to the shaft 31 without any tendency to twist the shaft.

It will be understood that the foregoing description relates to particular embodiments and is merely representative. Therefore, in order fully to understand the spirit and scope of the invention, reference should be made to the appended claims in which we claim:

l. A holder for a drum beater head in a pedal-type drum beater comprising a unitary beater shaft having a straight main portion, an offset portion parallel said main portion, an angular portion connecting said main and offset portions, and a spindle portion extending perpendicularly from said offset portion, all said portions being integral, a generally cylindrical beater head of semiresilient fibrous material having a central bore and mounted on spindle permitting substantial rotation of said beater head with respect to both said spindle and drum head upon impact of the beater head on the drum.

2. The combination set forth in claim 1 further characterized in that the means for mounting the beater head on said spindle comprises fiat washer-like members engaging opposite ends of said beater head with a helical coiled spring engaging one of said flat members.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,892,886 Haight Jan. 3, 1933 2,800,828 Moeller July 30, 1957 2,896,492 Dane July 28, 1959 

1. A HOLDER FOR A DRUM BEATER HEAD IN A PEDAL-TYPE DRUM BEATER COMPRISING A UNITARY BEATER SHAFT HAVING A STRAIGHT MAIN PORTION, AN OFFSET PORTION PARALLEL SAID MAIN PORTION, AN ANGULAR PORTION CONNECTING SAID MAIN AND OFFSET PORTIONS, AND A SPINDLE PORTION EXTENDING PERPENDICULARLY FROM SAID OFFSET PORTION, ALL SAID PORTIONS BEING INTEGRAL, A GENERALLY CYLINDRICAL BEATER HEAD OF SEMIRESILIENT FIBROUS MATERIAL HAVING A CENTRAL BORE AND MOUNTED ON SPINDLE PERMITTING SUBSTANTIAL ROTATION OF SAID BEATER HEAD WITH RESPECT TO BOTH SAID SPINDLE AND DRUM HEAD UPON IMPACT OF THE BEATER HEAD ON THE DRUM. 